


but I intend to catch you soft, so lay in my arms

by fernfuneral



Category: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, it's just them being sweet and in love that's all, that's literally it - Freeform, this is so fucking niche but. i love them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:46:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24479680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fernfuneral/pseuds/fernfuneral
Summary: It's a late morning in the Coolatta household, and Tommy loves his boyfriends. Also, Forzen hates waking up.
Relationships: Darnold/Forzen (Half-Life), Tommy Coolatta/Darnold, Tommy Coolatta/Darnold/Forzen, Tommy Coolatta/Forzen
Comments: 13
Kudos: 107





	but I intend to catch you soft, so lay in my arms

A stripe of sunlight hit Tommy’s eye through the crooked shade in his bedroom, rousing him from his sleep. Despite the lack of blankets on his bed, he was warm, heat emanating from the two men on either side of him. Forzen had shifted sometime in the night, and Tommy had been pulled close to his chest, with the other man’s head just barely brushing the back of Tommy’s neck. Darnold was curled against Tommy’s front, arm slung across his waist, fingers linked with Forzen’s on top of the middle’s hip.

Tommy smiled, closing his eyes for a moment to bask in the calm, before slowly moving into a sitting position, glancing at the clock beside their bed. It was steadily approaching midday, according to the numbers on the analog next to him, and he knew he should probably get out of bed. Even still, the comfort and warmth of his boys was tempting, especially when he didn’t have anything to do that day.

His eyes fell to the others, lingering on their peaceful faces. The light from the window had filtered across the three, highlighting the tranquil expressions of the two sleeping men. Tommy sat quietly, looking at the two of them, fingers tapping gently on his lap. He could barely fathom how lucky he was to have them, to be able to wake up in between them every morning. His right hand moved to the nape of Forzen’s neck, brushing at his hair where it’d started to grow out. The other man was sleeping soundly, face devoid of its usual gruff expression. The sun painted small lines of gold across the ex-soldier’s face, reflecting off of his lashes and pooling into the small ridges of the scars Forzen had collected over the years. His hair curled across his forehead, dark and shaggy, and his mouth was slightly open as he breathed, soft puffs of air hitting Tommy’s side. 

A yawn forced itself between Tommy’s lips and his eyes closed, moving to Darnold when he opened them again. His face was still, brow slightly furrowed as it tended to be when he was dreaming. The light from the window dusted his cheeks, coating his features in amber. It made the white hair at Darnold’s temples shine, and Tommy softly brought his free hand up to run his fingers across it. The action seemed to waken the other man, who slowly blinked sleep from his eyes, looking up at Tommy and smiling. The skin around his eyes creased with the movement, crows feet stretching, and Tommy watched, enamored, as the sunlight dripped across Darnold’s face. His eyes were a molten umber in the morning light, flecks of gold shining as the sun moved across his face. The other man’s eyelids still hung low, sleep not having left him, but he leaned into Tommy’s hand, closing his eyes once more before extracting his fingers from Forzen’s and moving his arm so that his palm lay on Tommy’s chest.

“Sleep well?” Darnold’s voice was hushed, barely more than a whisper, and his fingers idly twisted Tommy’s shirt. He nodded in response, not yet ready to speak, content with sitting in silence with Darnold. A moment passed, and Darnold lifted himself, pressing a kiss to the corner of Tommy’s mouth and leaning against his chest, eyes flicking to Forzen. “Should we wake him? He needs the rest.”

Tommy shook his head, quietly leaning against Darnold as an intense wave of love for the two men beside him hit. He brought his hand up to entwine his fingers with Darnold’s, basking in the other man’s presence. Forzen’s warmth at his side was a soft reassurance of his company and Tommy’s fingers twisted lightly in his hair. 

The mattress creaked as Forzen shifted, eyes cracking open and squinting against the sunlight before he pressed his face into Tommy’s stomach, grumbling in french. His breath was warm through Tommy’s shirt and the former soldier’s arm moved to wrap around his boyfriend’s waist, tightening as Forzen bemoaned his steady trudge to awareness. Darnold laughed softly, pulling his free hand around to brush through the larger man’s hair before resting it on top of Forzen’s upturned palm.

“Good morning Forzen,” Darnold said, laughter tinting his voice. “How’d you sleep?”

Forzen grunted in response, lifting his head to look at Darnold, face pinched in a glare that would have been intimidating had it not been for his current state on Tommy’s lap. His hair was mussed from both sleep and Tommy’s hands, and there were red streaks on his face from where it had been pressed into the sheets of their bed. His mouth was downturned in a pout that bordered on childlike, evidently indignant that he’d been woken up. The overall effect of the glare was ruined by a large yawn that split across the Canadian’s face, interrupting his glower. Tommy smiled and chuckled softly, meeting Darnold’s eyes and laughing a bit harder.

“You’re cute babe,” Tommy teased, resting his hand on Forzen’s back. “Maybe if- maybe mornings would be easier if you weren’t up so late gaming.”

This garnered another pout from Forzen, who mumbled a few curses at his boyfriends before dropping his head back down against Tommy’s stomach, blowing out a hot puff of air in weak retaliation.

Darnold smiled at Tommy, leaning over to press a kiss to the top of Forzen’s head before standing from the bed. He kept his fingers interlocked with Tommy’s for a moment longer and then moved over to where Sunkist was now sitting up in her bed, awoken by the other three. Darnold rubbed the top of her head, scratching underneath her jaw and turning back to the two on the bed. 

“I’ll go get her breakfast ready, are you going to try to get him,” and here he nodded to Forzen, eyes warm, “up and out of bed?”

Muffled objections rose from Tommy’s stomach as Forzen tried to argue that he should be able to sleep as long as he wanted to and that the other two were “dumb and wrong” for trying to make him wake up. Tommy shook his head at his boyfriend’s antics before tilting it towards the door, signaling that he and Forzen would be down soon. Darnold laughed and walked to leave the room, Sunkist at his heels, pausing once more to roll his eyes good-naturedly at Forzen before exiting the bedroom. Tommy could hear him talking to Sunkist as he walked downstairs, and his smile widened.

He looked down to where Forzen’s face was still buried in his lap, lightly tapping an irregular rhythm onto the other man’s back. “I have to get up, are you gonna cooperate?”

Forzen didn’t answer, instead electing to roll over from his previous position so that he could meet Tommy’s eyes, sprawled across the bed. He was frowning, eyes half-lidded as he looked at his boyfriend. 

“Too much work, ‘s early.” His accent was more pronounced than usual, mixing with the residual sleep in his voice and slurring his words. He grabbed Tommy’s hand, linking their fingers. “I’ll… uh… I’ll give you a Beyblade if you let me go back to sleep.”

Tommy leaned forwards, pressing a chaste kiss to Forzen’s lips, smiling into it. “I already know that you’ve given me all of the Beyblades you have, babe, that isn’t gonna work on me.” He moved to get out of bed, and Forzen’s hand tightened in his, a soft whine coming from the aforementioned man. “Darnold’s probably making coffee, don’t want to keep him waiting, right?”

Having successfully extracted himself from Forzen’s grip, Tommy stood from the mattress, grabbing a shirt from the dresser and throwing it to the man on the bed. Forzen groaned, rolling over and lying facedown on the bed. Tommy laughed quietly, walking back towards the man and leaning down to run his hand through Forzen’s hair. 

“If you get up now I’ll, um, I’ll let you be the middle spoon tonight.” This seemed to get Forzen’s attention, and he lifted his head to look at Tommy. The other man smiled in response, grabbing the shirt from where it had fallen next to Forzen and handing it to him. “C’mon, Darnold is probably wondering where we are.”

Tommy walked to the door and he could hear shuffling behind him as Forzen pulled on the shirt and got out of bed. A warm hand slipped into his, and he looked back at Forzen, whose hair was falling in his face as he yawned, palm covering his mouth. Tommy pressed a kiss to his boyfriend’s cheek, whispering his gratitude into the former soldier’s ear before they headed downstairs.

The two entered the kitchen to see Darnold humming to himself at the counter with a mug of coffee in his hands. Sunkist was apparently done eating breakfast and had settled in front of the fridge, eyes lazily flicking to the two newcomers. Forzen released Tommy’s hand, making a beeline to the two steaming mugs next to Darnold. He took his, softly kissing Darnold in thanks, before stumbling over to the table in the middle of their kitchen, eyes hooded as he nursed the coffee. Tommy smiled indulgently at him, meeting Darnold’s eyes and walking across the kitchen to get his cup as well. 

“Finally got him out of bed?” Darnold’s voice was quiet, and he wrapped an arm around Tommy’s waist in greeting. Tommy nodded in response, taking a sip from his mug and looking over at where Forzen was sitting with his head leaning on one hand, coffee in the other.

The kitchen was tranquil, and the sunlight filtering through the window above the sink softened everything, warming the air. Tommy stood quietly, thinking about the two men before him. It was exhilarating, being able to wake up next to them each morning, fall asleep beside them each night. The feeling of love, the warmth that the two emanated, was almost overwhelming with how it consumed him, but it wasn’t scary. It was nice, comfortable. He trusted them, and they trusted him, and they all loved each other. He smiled into his mug, watching as Darnold walked over to sit at the table as well, quietly teasing Forzen. 

After everything that had happened in Black Mesa, Tommy hadn’t really known what he would do next. His plans were really to just go home and sleep for as long as possible, spend time with Sunkist. He hadn’t had any concrete ideas for the future. Being around the Science team helped, but even they wanted to spend time on their own, and Tommy understood that. He didn’t hold it against them, he needed time on his own after the events of the invasion as well. When he finally got back in contact with Darnold, weeks after Black Mesa’s collapse it was like a breath of fresh air. Darnold had seemed just as eager to catch up with Tommy as Tommy was with him, and they’d grown a lot closer in the days after. He’d met Forzen again through Darnold, and everything had just fallen naturally into place.

Being with them was easy, simple in a way that Tommy had never felt before. They understood him, understood when he needed space, or didn’t want to talk, and he understood them. Darnold, Forzen, the Science Team, all of them had come into his life so quickly and they changed it in a way he hadn’t thought possible. His heart swelled, happiness rising as he thought about the people he’d surrounded himself with. 

Forzen’s voice interrupted his thoughts, and he looked up to see the two men at the table watching him. 

“Tommy, you okay?” Tommy nodded, collecting his thoughts and looking at Forzen and Darnold.

“Yeah, I just… I love you guys a lot, that’s all.” He walked over to the table, sitting down and smiling at the others. “I’m so glad that I found you two again! You mean a lot to me.” 

Forzen looked Tommy for a moment before taking his hand, interlocking their fingers and lifting it to press a kiss to the top of his palm. He didn’t say anything, but Tommy understood what he meant. He looked over at Darnold, who had a small smile playing across his face as he watched the two of them. Darnold’s foot hooked around Tommy’s underneath the table, completing the connection between the three of them.

“I love you too. Both of you.” He replied, eyes moving between the other two.

Silence fell across the kitchen, but it was comfortable. The air was warm and Tommy could hear birds singing outside, light and cheerful in the summer air. The three of them sat, basking in the safety of each other’s company, and Tommy marveled at the small cove of peace he’d carved out with his boys. He sighed contentedly and took another sip from his mug.

Yeah, he was pretty lucky.

**Author's Note:**

> this is fic is dedicated to ash and jay for being the realest mfs on earth and yelling about magicsodablade with me. it's honestly just me being self-indulgent and writing Tommy/Darnold/Forzen fluff bc they make me feel a lot of things,, hope you enjoyed it!! i love them sm....
> 
> title from "Candy Eyes" by Jack Stauber, which is a rlly cute song so like. check it out if u want
> 
> talk 2 me on tumblr!! i'm @dxisychains and @pogbenrey <3


End file.
